Ice-making apparatus



' (Mudez-1.)

. 'I'. COOK & 0. ALBREGHT.

1GB MAKING APPARATUS.

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V UNITED STATES THOMAS COOK AND OTTO ALBREOHT, OF PHILADELPHIA,l?ENNSYLVANIA.

PATENT OFFICE.,

ICE-MAKING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 261,810, dated July 25,1882. Application filed February 6, 1880. Renewed January 3, 1882.(Model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, THOMAS COOK and OT- To ALnREcH'r, citizens ot' theUnited States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county ofPhiladelphiaand State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Ice-Making Apparatus; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a partof this specification.

' This invention relates to the freezing apparatus ot' ice-makingapparatus, and :more especially to that class of freezing apparatuseswhich freeze by direct contact, though some parts of the invention areapplicable to freezing apparatuses which use a non-congealable liquid asa freezing medium.

Our improvementconsists of certain combinations set forth in the claimsat the close of this specification, and made up out of mechanicaldevices of which the following are the principal: a pair of water-tanks;at least two freezing-coils, one in each watertank,`and Aso connectedtogether that they will form a continuous channel for the refrigerantmeans for controlling the supply and reversing the flow of therefrigerant, which means may consist of an induction-pipe for eachfreezing-coil and an exhaust-pipe common to the freezing-coils,including necessaryr cocks or valves; a traversing saw (one or more) forcutting the ice from the freezing-coils.

In order thatthe invention may be fully understood, we--have illustratedin the annexed drawings and will proceed to describe the best form ofthe invention now known to us. lt should be understood, however, thatthe construction of the apparatus may be modified in many particulars(and some modifications will be described hereinafter) to suit the viewsof manufacturers orusers without departing from the principle ot' ourinvention.

Figure l is a perspective view of our improved ice making apparatus,lacking, however, the-traversing saw of one of the freezers. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section thereof through one of the freezers. Fig.3 is a sectional bottom view of the apparatus.

of the other freezer will he marked on the drawings with the samereferenceletters, except that their indices are placed at the bottom,

so that the description of one freezer will answer for both, while adistinction is preserved between their respective reference-letters tofa cilitate the description of the entire apparatus.

The tank A of the freezer may beconstructcd of wood or of any othersuitable or preferred material. 1t is of rectangular form, and containsin this instance three freezing-coils, B B2 B3, of which coil B2occupies the center of the tank, while the coils B and B3 are set closeagainst the respective sides of the tank. The freezing-coils are madeot' pipes or tubes of' such metal as is adapted to the particularrefrigerant to be. employed. We preferto use anhydrous ammonia as therefrigerating agent, and for that reason construct the freezing-coils ofiron pipes. The upper pipe, b, of each freezing-coil is at one endextended to pass through the end of the tank and join the cross-pipe C,which conducts the spent or utilized ammoniacal gas on its way back tothe compressing pump `or pumps. Each of the pipes b is pro vided with acock or valve, b2, by means of which communication between said pipes band the pipe C, which may be termed the exhaust-pipe, can be opened andclosed at pleasure. The lower pipe, b3, of freezing-coil B is"` iconnected with the corresponding pipe, b3, of freezing-coil B of theadjacent freezer. In like manner the lower pipes of the freezing-coilsB2 and B3 are connected with the corresponding pipes of thefreezing-coils B2 and B3 of the adjacent freezer. An induction-pipe. D',through branches cl, is adapted to supply, anhydrous liquefied ammoniato the pipes b ofthe freezing-coils B B2 B3. This induction-pipe isprovided with a cock or valve, (not shown in the drawings,) so that thesupply of liquefied ammonia may be turned on and cutoff at pleasure. Therefrigerant is supplied through either the one or the other of theinduction-pipes D D. Whenl supplied by the induction-pipe D the valvesb2 must be shut and the valves b2 opened,

so that the refrigerant may flow first through the coils B' B2 B3,thence through the coils B, B2 B3, to the exhaust-pipe U. When suppliedby the induction-pipe 1)' the valves b2 must be 5 shut and the valves b2opened, so that the flow of the refrigerant will be in areversedirection. The tanks will be filled with water to aheight sufficient towholly immerse the freezing-coils.

'lo speed the freezing and insure the production of solid andtransparent ice,it is important to maintain a circulation of waterthrough the tank. To this end the tank A'is provided with a Water-pipe,E', the opposite ends of which open into the respective ends of thetank. In the illustrated arrangement this water-circulating pipe extendsalong one side and outside of the tank, and has elbowsv connected bybranches to the respective ends of the tanks. One of the branches orelbows of pipe E' forms the barrel of a propellerpump, the blades e' ofwhich are connected to or formed on a shaft which extends through astuffing-box of the pipe and carries a she-ave or pulley by which it maybe rotated. By running this propeller-pump a constant circulation ofwater can be maintained through the tank. Any suitable pump may be usedinstead of this propeller-pump to maintain a circulation of waterthrough the tank.

The freezing-coils are suitably strapped and supported upon sills A2,secured to the bottom of the tank. The tank extends a considerabledistance beyond one end of the freezing-coils, forming a chamber for theaccommodation of the saw or saws used for cutting the ice from thefreezing-coils, as will he presently described. 'lhe distance betweenthe freezingcoils will bejust a little in excess ofthe thickness of thehlocksot' ice to be formed, in order to allow for inequalities in thesurfaces of the coils and for the ice vcut away by the saw or saws.

The apparatus so far described is operated in the following manner: Oneof the tankssay A'-is filled with water, while the other one remainsempty for the time being. After opening cocks b2 and closing cocks b2the refrigerant is admitted through the induction D', and ows firstthrough the coils of the empty tank 5o A', where, by taking up heat fromthe air, it

vill beconsiderably tempered, so that vits freezing action'through thecoils of the filled tank A will be of a nature mild enough to produce atransparent ice from the beginning of the operation. The freezing iscontinued in this manner until the coils in tank A have become coatedwith ice of considerable thickness. Thesupplyoftherefrigerantthroughinductionpipe D' is then cut oft', the valves b2closed, valves b2 opened, and the refrigerant admitted throughinduction-pipe D', the tank A' having in the meanwhile been lled withwater'. The severest freezing now occurs in tank A', where the coils arealready covered with a thick coat of ice, while a mild freezing takesplace in tank A', as required,.in order to make transparent ice on itscoils from the commencement of freezing. Both propeller-pumps are keptrunning to maintain an active circulation of water through the tankswhilethe freezing continues. As soon as the ice in tank A' has frozensolid from coil to coil the flow of the refrigerant is again reversed,so that the severest freezing will take place in the tank A'. The ice isthen immediately cut from the coils in tank A', which is to this endprovided with a saw or saws, in the same way as tank A', in connectionwith which such a sawing apparatus is shown. The cutting oli' from allthe coils in the tank may be accomplished at a single operation by theuse of a gang of saws; or a single saw only may be used tomakesuccessive cuts through the ice along the faces of the coils. In thepresent instance we have shown a pair of circular saws, F, mounted on asingle arbor, F', and so spaced that they will run between two adjacentcoils to cut off the slab of ice frozen between such coils. Thesaw-arbor turns in bearings on a carriage, G, which straddles the tank,and has small truck-wheels to run uponrails on the top edge of the sidesof the tank. The saw-arbor carries a pulley, H, which is driven by meansof a belt, I, from a drivingpulley, K, on the counter-shaft K','whichcarries a pulley, K2, to be driven from the lineshaft. rEhe belt Ipasses from the driving-pulley K to the other end of the tank around anidler, L. It is guided by guide-rollers H',which may also serve astighteners, so as to act on about one-half of the periphery of pulley Hon the saw-arbor. The guide-rollers H' are mounted on the saw-carriageG. As the axis of the saws is above the ice to be cut the saws have tobe rotated so as to cut from the bottom up; and under the particulararrangement of the parts shown it will be necessary to employfeedgearing of any suitable known description to feed thesaw-carriage'forward as the sawing proceeds. However, under a slightlydifferent arrangement of the driving-gear the drivingbelt I may rununder instead of over the pulley H of the saw-arbor, in which case thedrivin g-belt would have to travel in a direction reverse from thatindicated by the arrows on the drawings, and consequently would have atendency to feed the saw-carriage by drawing it forward as fast as thecutting proceeded. With the parts so modified, separate feedgearingmight be dispensed with.

The saws are traversed along the tankto out the ice from between twocoils. They are then run back to their chamber,where they are to beshifted laterally on their arbor to pnt them in position for cuttingbetween the next coils. rlhe saws, if used in pairs, as described,should be secured to a sleeve common to both, so that they can beshifted simultaneously. Having been sawed off the coils, the blocks ofice are removed from tank A', and the tank is immediately refilled withwater. The flow of the refrigerant continues from the coils in tank A tothe coils in tank A' until ice has frozen solid from coil to coil insaid tank A', when the iiow of the refrigerant is reversed. The ice isthen sawcd from the coils in tank A', which is refilled with water afterthe removal of the ice. Thus the` operation continues uninterruptedly,ice being harvested from theA tanks alternately.

In practice the tanks will be made considerably wider, so as to receivean increased number of freezirlgcoils. The outside freezingcoils neednot be set close against the sides of the tank, asshown in the drawings,and here inbefore described. On the contrary, there may be left as muchspace between these outside freezingcoils and the sides of the tank asthere is between two adjacent freezing-coils, so that ice may be formedon both sides of the outside freezingcoils, the sa me as Qn theintermediate coils.

Ve have stated that each freezer is provided with its own sawingapparatus. Instead of that, a single sawing apparatus may answer forboth freezers, being used alternately in the 'one' andthe other.

While not in use the sawing apparatus may be detached from the machine.

Since hoisting machineryis required for lifting the slabs of ice out ofthe tanks, this same hoisting machinery can be made use of in removingand placing the sawing apparatus.

A hood, M, is arranged over the sawsl to direct the cuttings back intothe tank..

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The combination, substantially as before y set forth, of twowater-tanks, two connected freezing-coils, one in each tank, and forminga continuous channel for the refrigerant, and means for controlling andreversing the iiow of the refrigerant through said freezing-coils.

2. The combination, substantially as before set forth, of twowater-tanks, two connected freezing-coils, one in each tank, and forminga continuous channel for the refrigerant, a separate induction-pipe foreach freezing-coil, and an exhaust-pipe common to both freezing-`coi1s.

3. The combination, substantially as before set forth, of a Water-tank,a fixed freezing-coil therein, and a traversing-saw.

1n testimony whereof We affix our signatures in presence of twoWitnesses.

THOS. COOK. OTTO ALBREGHT. Witnesses:

LoUIs M. SIMPsoN, A. M. ZANE.

